


Easier Ways

by TaeAelin



Category: Charlie Countryman (2013)
Genre: Actually I really like this love-hate alliance, Angst and Humor, Background Relationships, Bad guys, Canon Backstory, Conversations, Crimes & Criminals, Darko and Nigel Were Once Friends, Darko is so fun to write, Foreshadowing, M/M, Nigel Loves Gabi Too Much, Other, Pre-Movie(s), Shorts, Tension, The Tape
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-01
Updated: 2015-10-01
Packaged: 2018-04-24 08:30:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4912453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TaeAelin/pseuds/TaeAelin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nigel is being blackmailed. Darko makes a last ditch attempt to convince him there are more creative methods for getting rid of the tape.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Easier Ways

“He’s just one man.” Darko leaned over the desk, lowering his tone. There was no one else in the room. “There are easier ways to deal with this.”

Nigel barely shifted, except to crease his face into the kind of scowl that sent most people running. “He’s not _just one man_. Just one fucking man? He’s her _fucking father_.”

Darko spread his arms, just as ready to skip the sugar if it came to it.

“Nigel. That’s why he’s so _fucking_ dangerous.”

He made the intonation deliberate. Almost got a smirk out of him too. And for a second it may as well have been six years ago, before Nigel careened into that same impassioned doggedness that would take them both down.

“He has contacts.”

An appeal to his more pragmatic side. Darko was level enough to recognise that didn’t necessarily make it untrue.

“Who, Bela?” Darko sneered. The thought of having his strings pulled by a sixty-something musician was about as terrifying as hearing his girls were going to unionise. He still held their passports. And in the case of Bela, something far more interesting. He smiled, a last palm outstretched before the ledge. “Did you ever hear how old Bela snapped up the role of Principal Conductor? Despite being infinitely less capable than our fat, beloved Ivan?”

“I don’t follow the fucking arts, Darko, how the fuck would I know?”

Darko paced a small circle round the centre of the room, delighted to hold such news in spite of himself. “Your friends know. _Our_ friends know. What is it the foreigners say; _truth is stranger than fiction?_ Honestly, it’s _better_ than one of his Operas. Now that’s poetic.”

Nigel raised an eyebrow, his darker curiosity piqued despite the gravity of it all. “So Bela had some trouble. Was crooked. Is crooked.” Nigel corrected himself at each wave of Darko’s hand until the man gave him a wink, miming a gunshot as he finally got it right. “Whatever the fuck he’s into, he can’t be in half as fucking deep us. And whatever he did then, it doesn’t do much to wipe that tape now.”

Darko spun back to face him, suddenly irritated. From the adjoining room, the wailing of some indebted patron interrupted the silence, followed by a round of vigorous menacing from Petru and Paul. Darko twitched a corner of his mouth.

“Excuse me.” He strode over to the door, wrenching it back with a force that completely contradicted the impulsively pleasant tone that followed. “Please, a little quieter please. We’re having a meeting in here. And put those things down, you’re not Starsky and Hutch. Have a little discretion.”

He clicked the door shut with a conspiratorial scoff. Nigel gave a shake of his head, then relented to an amused grimace. _Amateurs_.

“Nigel.” Darko took a slow breath, trying not to mishandle the words chasing around his head. “You’re not the first person to love. You’re not the first person to make a mistake. Fuck, we both know you’re not the first to almost get caught.”

He walked over, his hand finding a steady grip on the other man’s shoulder.

“But let’s put it right. I want my face on that thing as little as you. And if it comes to it, I don’t know if we can tempt or twist enough heads the other way. So let’s just take care of it while we can, hm? That tape’s not going anywhere if there’s no one around to deliver it.”

Nigel stood stone still, fixated on the opposite wall. Those goddamn photos. He should really have taken them down. Darko let go, filled with a fury he didn’t quite understand, volatile as everything else. When he spoke, the sound came barely above a hiss, which he couldn’t help feel thankful for.

“You may be losing her. But if you leave-” he gave a sharp gesture to the walls, the city beyond. “-You’ll lose everything.”

Nigel didn’t turn toward him, didn’t even acknowledge he had heard. When he spoke, his voice was dead.

“If I lose her.” His gaze crossed the door, already halfway out. “I’ve already lost everything.

-

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! (:
> 
> Comments and kudos are always welcome, or chat to me on [Tumblr!](http://taeaelin.tumblr.com/)


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